The worlds of venture capital and clean technology are coming together in Italy, for what promises to be a very significant event. The Cleantech Summit is scheduled to take place in Milan, from November 12 to13. Now celebrating its third edition, this initiative is jointly promoted by the non-profit organisation, Tech Tour, active in promoting European businesses involved in developing new technologies, and the International Venture Club, an association of European venture capital companies. Support has also been provided by the government body, ICE (the Italian Trade Promotion Agency), which helps Italian companies to develop business abroad.About 150 delegates are due to take part in the event, including more than 30 corporate development decision makers, 25 leading investors, and 20 representatives of international media and opinion leaders. Attention will be focused on the new technologies, especially in the contexts of renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, sustainable transport, smart cities, water filtering systems and waste recycling. A selection committee will have the difficult task of nominating and selecting the 20 best European entrepreneurs involved in developing clean technologies, subsequently suggesting potential company partners and co-investors. The committee is made up of venture capitalists, organisations, businessmen and experts from the sector, in addition to ICE, which has chosen Professor Giorgio Einaudi as its representative. Over the two days of the Summit, the various businesses will make their presentations to the group of venture capitalists and take part in one-to-one meetings with these same investors. The way the event is structured also provides many opportunities for networking, and chances for the Italian companies to showcase their activities. This shop window will provide the chosen companies with important exposure and media coverage, and give them the opportunity to meet key players in the field: from leading companies to investment banks, and to specialists in M & A. In addition, a particular objective of the event is to support the participation of 10 Italian businesses/start-up enterprises active in the field of clean technologies. The US Environmental Desk at ICE’s New York office, together with the Ministry of the Environment, has set up a technical committee to select the 10 Italian companies to be presented at the Milan Summit. Accompanied by a representative, they will be able to participate in all the activities at the summit, including a special networking event on the evening of November 12. Their company profiles will be included in the portfolio of delegates, and the representatives will be given a 10-minute slot to make a collective presentation to the potential investors.